'Game Of Thrones' Season 7 Finally Has A Release Date

As any "GoT" fan will tell you, the HBO hit normally debuts in April, but "Game of Thrones" showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss told fans they'd have to wait for a later start date in 2017 due to the fact winter has finally come to Westeros.

Now, according to reports, it appears "Game of Thrones" will return to HBO for a seventh season in... wait for it... summer 2017.

HBO

I know. Tears are rolling down my face as I write this. In addition to having a summer release date, season seven of "GoT" will also contain just seven episodes.

Speaking on the "UFC Unfiltered" podcast in early July, Benioff and Weiss said,

We're starting a bit later because at the end of this season, 'Winter is here' — and that means that sunny weather doesn't really serve our purposes any more.
So we kind of pushed everything down the line, so we could get some grim grey weather even in the sunnier places that we shoot.

The president of HBO programming, Casey Bloys, has now added to the showrunners' statement, saying,

Now that winter has arrived on 'Game of Thrones,' executive producers David Benioff and DB Weiss felt that the storylines of the next season would be better served by starting production a little later than usual, when the weather is changing.
Instead of the show's traditional spring debut, we're moving the debut to summer to accommodate the shooting schedule.